Category: Politics

I love a pretty new dress as much as the next girl. I hate disrespect for our flag. I made a choice to boycott NFL early this season when the organization allowed its teams and players to kneel during our National Anthem, in front of our flag. Their choice and my choice. Defending one’s beliefs and exercising the right to protest is part of our freedom. That freedom was established by the Declaration of Independence and hard won in the Revolutionary War. It is defended and honored every minute of the day, through the last 242 years by our veterans, and at this exact moment by our military. And our flag flies throughout it all.

Last night I made a simple sacrifice to honor our Veterans. I boycotted the SuperBowl and physically stood during it–from about 6:20 pm until 10:18 pm, EST with a 10-minute sitting break to eat a bite of dinner and about 10 seconds to start my halftime show from my laptop. It’s on FB, if you want to see it. I walked around and didn’t stand in one place, so it wasn’t too hard, but by 9:30 my legs started to ache a bit. No big deal.

My halftime show featured Metallica and ‘Enter Sandman’. I chose it as it isn’t pansy Justin TImberlake music and it was the theme entrance song for the great Mariano Rivera, the stunning Closer for the NY Yankees and a great man that came to the USA from Panama and became a citizen the legal way. It also honors MLB, an organization that would never allow its players to disrespect the flag.

I heard from my Christian friends that I missed out on the team coach, MVP and the winning tight end giving praise and glory to God, so why was I still boycotting? I love the fact that God was proclaimed. My beef is with the NFL. They are ruining the game and allowing outside distractions to make political points. There is much to disagree on, but as Americans we have one common binder: our flag. This is non-negotiable: respect for the American flag, no matter what our issues are regarding race, religion, social justice, etc. The flag is the flag. As long as the NFL allows team members to take a knee, I refuse to watch it. I made a tiny sacrifice last night to honor our veterans and military, who defend our flag. God Bless America.

Jim Comey, my favorite Homey is having a major weaselfest on Twitter over a memo! He’s absolutely right too! “Weasels and liars never hold the field” he says, proven by the fact that he was FIRED. Good people like Devin Nunes have taken a stand, Jim. Homey seems a bit obsessed with standing, as he implies that good people are tall and bad ones are small. Apparently size really Does matter.

This memo is going to prove who the real weasels and liars are: those that colluded, conspired and obstructed right within the FBI! The ‘wealsefester’ goes on to cite Joe McCarthy for not having schools nor streets named after him…….and we all see how important that is….look who the FBI building is named after??? J Edgar Hoover…..a short, perverted, paranoid, mega-abuser of power.

Keep the faith, Jim. Remember your brother Amos warned you about justice flowing down but he wasn’t referring to twitter streams.

It’s Martin Luther King Day in America. It’s also a time many call their President racist for possibly using derogatory curse words toward governments of third world countries. MLK fought valiantly and fruitfully for racial equality and was a flawed man. Dr. King was known to have many a liaison outside the marriage institution and seemed a bit of a sex addict. Yet that was overlooked in favor of the civil rights causes he championed. POTUS Trump is also a flawed man, known for fruitful language and a twitter obsession, but it is never overlooked yet used to distract and overshadow the amazing accomplishments he has achieved for America in 11 months and 3 weeks.

Now who is being racist? I say it is the people attempting to inflict that hated term on Trump and his supporters. Hasn’t America abolished slavery, segregation, suppression of the black population? Haven’t we moved past viewing the black population as inferior to whites and other races? Didn’t we freely elect a POTUS of mixed race and have others of black, yellow and brown in key positions within the SCOTUS, the Legislature, Executive Cabinet? Aren’t we all considered to be colored people in America…meaning of the red, white and blue?

Racism exists primarily in individuals that view themselves as White Nationalists or belong to organizations that views themselves superior to other races. Prejudice, on the other hand…if we humble ourselves to be forthright, exists in all of us. It is part of human nature and sinful, but it’s there in every color. American colored people (red, white and blue, that is) are prejudiced. But that does not make one a racist.

POTUS Trump is not a racist nor are those that voted for him. He provides equal opportunity in his business organization and his Presidency for folks of all races. What he IS, is a Nationalist. Nationalism is not racism. He is looking out for America by enforcing the values and principles set in 1776 , to preserve our sovereignty. He doesn’t want immigrants that are against American values, that have no desire to contribute their skills and add to our success or those who wish to cause us harm. The alleged ‘shit-hole’ comments referred to countries and their government, not individual people. And we have no proof he actually said that, yet he is known for flawed language. It might be nice if people overlooked that in favor of the good he has done, like they do for Dr. King.

As Americans, red/white/blue colored people, we need to stop playing the tired race card–it’s old news. Racism has been virtually eliminated, thanks in large part to Dr. King. Prejudice, sadly, seems alive and well in Red White and Blue America. Our current POTUS faces it every hour of every day.

You’ve decided to take a knee, burn a flag, turn your back, and lock arms, spit and whatever else…because America is no good. Gender and Racial inequality are the main reasons, going way back to the slave-owning Founding Fathers. How can one respect a country built on such atrocity?

There is no excusing slavery. The history of oppression and slavery in America is shameful.

But that is no excuse to use slavery as a reason to abandon and disrespect America. Nearly all, if not all kingdoms and sovereign nations were built on slavery or other forms of oppression, exploitation, power over-reach, etc. You wish to move to a country without such a history? Good luck finding one. Ancient Babylon, Egypt, China, the Roman Empire, slave trading nations such as France, the Dutch Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, the West Indies, Australia, even Canada are all guilty of it. What about England and its role in the slave business? American slaves came by way of Great Britain in horrendous condition aboard ships, originating in West and North Africa having been sold by Arab and Islamic brokers. Yeppers. The Muslims that you political correct zealots fight so hard to protect have unclean hands in the slave business.

Here’s what makes America different: first, not all of the Founding Fathers held slaves: John Adams, for example. Those that did acknowledged it was unjust and strove to find a path to end it. Second, the Fathers were great thinkers and some also extraordinary writers: Thomas Jefferson, for example. They founded America on the premise that all men were born equal and with God-given rights. Get it? Not Constitution-given or Declaration of Independence-given… but God-given rights. The Constitution guarantees and protects certain God-given rights. Bingo. That is where America got it right and from the inception of its formation. We haven’t always done good and have experienced periods of disgrace, but America stands for freedom, individual liberty and justice for all, under God. By putting and keeping God first, America will always prevail.

If you’ve lived long enough, and paid some attention to government, you’ve seen more than a few bizarre members serving our Executive Branch. Whew, Comey really hit it out of the park today in terms of overall weirdness. Some of the stuff he seemed actually proud of….like leaking private details about a POTUS meeting to a friend after a Trump tweet which caused him concern in the middle of the night. You’re a man-baby, Jimmy. And seeming shocked that Trump invited him to dinner and ‘surely there will be others there’..golly it was just me and HIM. As if this has never happened before (not that it should, but you know it has occurred in other Administrations surely.).

For those of you so shocked and dismayed over what you feel is so terrible about our current Administration—-get a grip on reality by taking a trip down memory lane. Before I start, let me state that what we have now is an imperfect man, yet the greatest POTUS of my lifetime. A true man, strong, loving America and working for the American people. But here is a short list of some truly dismal past Exec. Branch public servants:

Dick Nixon…….need I say more…..so I won’t

Al Haig: Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. Who remembers…I do! I do!…..nutty ole Al Haig running into the White House briefing room after poor POTUS Reagan was shot, all huffy and puffy, grabbing the mic (no wireless in those days) , and re-assuring us that HE was in charge here! Oh yes, the famous chain of command yelled out by Haig: it’s the President, then the Vice President, then the Secretary of State…………………………………..whaaaaa? Did he say ‘Speaker of the House’? No honey.

W. Yes, that W. You know, the son of George Herbert Walker. The big government spender and signer of No Child Left Behind and other disasters. The one who authorized Operation Iraqi Freedom largely based on a lie (no weapons of mass destruction ever found), motivated by ‘Saddam Hussein threatened to kill my daddy’, and justified by the ridiculous idea that we could achieve Democracy in Iraq and magically–it would spread into other countries of the Middle East. At least 4K American deaths, over 30K wounded, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths…..The big thing I disagree with Trump on is HRC being the creator of ISIS: maybe W really is. No plan for how to handle things in Iraq after toppling the government. Chaos, instability, nothing good came from this. Our dear soldiers are not to blame.

George Tenet: CIA Director under Bill and W: the guy responsible for knowingly submitting a false report to Colin Powell on Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, presented to the United Nations. Shame.

Rummy: Sec of Defense under W, totally mismanaged the use of military in the Iraq war, and ideologue of having US Elite/Small military. Cool idea, but it didn’t work. But he does love dachshunds at least.

Paul Bremer: I’m not sure of his official title, but directly involved or in charge of Iraqi strategy under W: somehow found a way to de-BAATH the remaining Iraqi government and authorize withdrawal of too many troops way too, etc. A total screw-up causing mass destabilization and paving the way for radical ideologist terrorism to move in. I don’t know how he managed to do this without others like Condi Rice, Rumsfeld or others knowing about it beforehand, but check the history books. It happened. Don’t know how this guy sleeps at night.

This list could be longer, but you get the idea. Kind of makes what is going on now pale in comparison. What came out in the hearing today is bizarre, and rather pale. Good night.

Yeah, I know. It’s been four months since American Waypoints got off the chair to write a post. Did you think it was because my candidate won the Presidency, so I just didn’t care anymore? Heck no. Here’s the thing: my alter-ego has been busy writing and publishing a second book. In my other life I’m a physical therapist for animals. But before that, I was a physical therapist for people, times 30 years. I know a little something about it. And I have something to say about the huge opioid mess we are in as a country.

Way back in the 1960s, 70s and 1980s, we in the medical profession did not focus on our patient’s pain. In the war years of the 1920-1950 era, pain meds were used with heavy doses for injured military. It was a necessity. But, back to the 1960-mid 1980s, less focus was put on pain and use of chemical treatment for pain symptoms. There were exceptions such as immediate post-op pain, intractable pain, incurable pain, terminal illness management, etc. Otherwise, prescribing Morphine, Codeine, Percoset, Vicodin was discouraged and ‘pain management’ consisted of healthy things like Physical Therapy modalities (TENS), Exercise therapy, Deep breathing, Acupuncture, Biofeedback, nerve blocks, etc.

Why? Because pain is subjective, you cannot easily quantify it. And because prescription pain meds were known to be highly addictive. A slippery slope on both ends. That doesn’t mean a medical professional disbelieves a patient complaining of pain. But it does mean that the professional cannot afford to take only the patient’s word regarding the amount of pain and simply prescribe meds to solve a problem which cannot be verified as to degree of severity. This was how we protected patients. We believed them but offered many solutions other than, or in addition to modest dosages of pain meds. But this meant patients had to work through their pain and learn alternative ways of pain management. It also took more time. It also took dollars away from medication-prescribing doctors and toward allied health professionals such as physical therapists, acupuncturists, biofeedback technicians, etc. It also took money away from the pharmaceutical industry.

By the 1990s, someone found a way to shift dollars back to the prescribing doctors and the drug companies. That someone WAS the doctors and the drug companies. A particular drug/PHARMA company found a way to formulate opium in a ‘synthetic’ way which was heralded as safe, having no serious side effects, yet a strong pain medication> Oxycontin. Wonderful. In 1996, a letter was circulated and published, giving doctors the all-clear to prescribe this drug. Did any of the doctors know the ‘if it is a snake before it bites you it’s still a snake’ story? Sure they did, but if PHARMA says it’s okay–I guess ‘we’re off the hook’. Money starts flowing into the drug company.

Now the doctors want some of the action. Many doctors sit on hospital boards and accreditation commissions and somehow, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hospitals start having a change in thought on pain. Addressing a patient’s pain has now become a priority. Almost like a vital sign–though one which cannot be measured objectively. Other vital signs, like respiratory rate and pulse, are easily quantified. But pain is measured on a pain scale, rated by the patient. Wow, that was easy. You need surgery, go to the pre-admission testing center, and there is a nurse assuring you that your LEVEL OF PAIN will be a high concern to all of the staff. Yes, you will be asked to RATE YOUR PAIN at multiple intervals throughout your stay. So comforting!

A few years later, a new specialty of medicine appears: Algiatry. WHHAAATTT? Oh, that means Pain Management Specialist. But that doesn’t mean you will be taught alternative ways to deal with pain–well you might, but it will be less emphasized than using drugs.

Combine this with the “Mindfulness” movement and “be in the NOW’ idiocy of the last few years. Let’s all never get over ourselves, and focus on how we feel and how much we hurt. Hey it’s all about me, and I’m in a hurry. And I deserve to feel good all of the time in the easiest way possible.

By 2012, PHARMA makes prescribing new generation pain meds even more appealing by changing the formula of Oxycontin to contain ‘abuse deterrents’. Seriously, how has that worked out? Oxycontin is still opium. Heroin is opium. Opium is a seriously addictive and harmful substance. Our country now has a huge crisis on our hands and people are dying.

Who is to blame? Why try and find someone or something to blame? Because I believe it is part of the process of fixing it. Are the drug dealers to blame?

No. They are opportunity-seeking bottom feeders but I don’t issue blame to them.

Are the patients to blame? Yes- a bit. People are responsible for knowing about drugs they are prescribed and not simply leaving their common sense at the door to the doctor’s office. And sadly, many folks simply prefer taking the easier path to easing their pain. Pain should not be crippling, but we need to learn to adjust our threshold and take the time to work through it responsibly.

Are doctors and drug companies to blame. You’re darn tootin they are. Easy path to more revenue. I’m praying that the paradigm shifts back to the days of working through pain by minimal use of chemistry and maximum use of physics.

The current First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, stated 2 days ago that “America is entering a period of hopelessness”. What a wonderful statement by a First Lady who rendered Frito-loving, soda drinking school children hopeless during lunch period.

This is the way liberals act when they lose: sore and without hope. This is the way liberals act when they win: negative and throwing shade at anyone who dares to disagree. Ungracious, demoralizing, bullying types these liberals are.

Liberals fail to see that America remains right of center, despite what they want you to believe. They got me. I was convinced that America had shifted left, way to the left. The cable news media, newspapers, celebrity posts and rants (i.e. Beyonce, Jon Stewart, Springsteen and so many others) , nearly fooled me into believing America had lost its core beliefs. Then I stopped listening to it. I started praying and believing that God would help America if we were willing to help ourselves and elect a new President who could turn our country back on course. I started paying attention to the tens of thousands who turned up for #MakeAmericaGreatAgain rallies, consistently, day after day, all over the USA. People like me got on their knees and asked God to help, campaigned, want to the voting booth, and elected Donald J. Trump.

So, Mrs. Obama, you are just wrong. America is entering a period of extraordinary hope and pride.

Speaking of pride, here’s where the negativity comes in. When liberals win on areas such as Same Sex Marriage, Gay Pride and similar issues, they start by openly criticizing those who disagree. In particular, they love to throw shade at Evangelical Christians. It’s not enough to celebrate their win, it has to be “how about those hateful——–(you fill in the blanks, with any person or organization who disagrees with them). If such an Evangelical Christian attempts to enter the conversation civilly, it doesn’t work out very well. Liberals have exactly zero tolerance for those who do not see the world their way. They try to bully you out of a conversation. The tolerance crowd is intolerant.

I’ve ‘lost’ in the POTUS elections the prior 4 cycles, not having voted for GWB nor Barry O. Now I’ve spouted off a bit about Barry, but in general, have sucked it up for 16 years and tolerated my liberal friends and other pals and family members loyal to all-things- Bush, with patience and politeness.

I’d like the losers to suck it up, be civil, and stick it out. I’d like liberals to show tolerance to those with conservative values. After all, there are more of us, and we’re nice.